Feng Bujue and Passing Rain parted at the field. The former went around the main building to the back of the school compound while the latter entered the main building. If the two of them worked on this assignment together, the scenario should not be too difficult. They could discuss the puzzles that they came across, and they could cooperate in any fighting scenario. When something scary happened, at least they would have the other next to them. But as they were limited by the system to work alone and had to complete that strange phone game that was obviously some kind of trick… in a way, the scenario’s level of danger and difficulty was doubled.
In that brief song, one could find many clues about the locations and the actual haunting, like the well, staircase, mirror, and piano.
Naturally, a well would not be inside a building and would not be near the football field, so most likely, it was at the back of the school compound. With that hypothesis in mind, Feng Bujue walked around the main building. At the time, the moon was high in the sky, like a silvery crystal lighting up the ground. One could see perfectly fine without the use of a flashlight. Feng Bujue did not run. He paid constant attention to the time shown on the phone. At the tenth minute, he would make a call.
In the Chinese five elements, water was placed at the north side, and coincidentally, Feng Bujue found a well at the northern side of the compound. The edge of the well was not tall, and it was made from white bricks. The surface of the bricks was rough and uneven. The mouth of the well was not sealed, but there was no rope or pail to be seen.
About ten meters away from the well, there was a L-shaped building. Looking in from the window, Feng Bujue saw a long sink and, above it, a line of faucets. Feng Bujue walked to the door and discovered items like iron pails and mops. It appeared that this was the storage room for cleaning supplies.
Feng Bujue decided to explore the room. He counted the number of mops and faucets but ultimately did not think that they were any important clues. When he exited the room, the phone showed that nine minutes and twenty-seven seconds had passed. He pressed the speed dial button.
However, the phone did not recognize that function. Instead, a message appeared on screen. “It is not yet time. Your one-time speed dial should be between 00:10:00 and 00:10:45.”
“So, I can only make the call within the forty-five seconds after the designated time,” Feng Bujue mumbled to himself. He waited for half a minute, and when the phone’s time showed that it was tenth minute sharp, he pressed the speed dial button again. The string of numbers appeared on screen, and the first call was sent out.
Du! The ringtone only rang once before Passing Rain answered.
They were on each other’s friend list, but they had not said a word since they entered the scenario. Feng Bujue felt like it was polite to begin the conversation with a greeting like ’this is such a coincidence’, but before he could waste his time with meaningless words, the girl cut right to the chase. “This main building is larger than it appears, and the power has been cut off because none of the lights work. There are rows of lockers after entering the front door, and beyond that is a straight corridor. There is a map for this level on the wall, and I’m currently on the first floor. I plan to conduct my search floor by floor, from first floor to the roof, and open each door to check. Currently, I’ve not run into anything strange. What about you?”
This was the first time that Feng Bujue had heard her use so many words in one go, and he had a hard time getting used to it. But he understood that it was because the one-minute time of communication was precious, and Passing Rain was probably waiting with the phone beside her ears when he made the call. So, right now, she would be holding the phone with one hand and the lamp with the other. If she ran into danger now, it would be hard for her to grab a weapon.
Therefore, Feng Bujue followed the girl’s lead and quickly replied.
“I found a well, and it should be the location pointed out by the first line. I’m preparing to study it closer.” He paused for a second. “Let’s think back briefly about that song. The second line talks about a ghost story involved a staircase with thirteenth step. I’ve looked around and noticed that there are three taller buildings in the school compound, and the main building is the tallest. It has seventh floors and a roof. I believe there’s a high chance for you to trigger this event. Remember to keep count of the steps, and if you notice that there are thirteen steps when you move up the stairs, it means that you’ve entered a supernatural dimension.
“The third line should refer to the toilet. If you hear a constant dripping sound coming from the toilet, then…”
Du—Du—Du.
The call ended. The one minute was over, and that was how their first contact ended. The next call would happen fifteen minutes later, and it would be Passing Rain calling Feng Bujue.
Even though Feng Bujue had not finished, there was nothing that he could do. Actually, his reminder was rather excessive because Passing Rain had heard the story about the staircase before, and regarding the content of the song, she had also memorized around eighty percent of it. In terms of fighting power, Feng Bujue was unnecessarily worried, especially when he should be more worried about himself.
Moving the phone away from his ear, Feng Bujue looked at the screen. He tried to call the number again, and this time, the message that appeared differed. “It is not yet time. Your next call should be between 00:40:00 and 00:40:45.”
Hmm… I think I can understand the purpose behind the setup, Feng Bujue thought to himself. The communication of one minute is never long enough to say anything. The main purpose of this setting is not to get the players to help one another but to pull each other down.
His guess was right. This was a setting that the system designed since they were both incredibly capable players. With their ability, even if they were separated, it would not be harsh enough to cause them any pressure. However… the concern that they would have for each other, that was definitely enough to transform into burden and pressure.
The rules were laid down clearly. They were not able to travel together, and even if they chanced upon each other, they could not communicate. They had to call each other at regular intervals, and the party that failed to make the call or answer the call would be haunted by ghosts. One could imagine when the time arrived, and they did not get the call—or they had made the call, but the other party did not answer—they would naturally be burdened with worry, thinking about why the other person did not answer. Did they key in the wrong number? Had something happened to the other person? Would their teammate would be able to handle the haunting of all the ghosts alone?
Even though one could see if one’s teammate was alive through the game menu, it did not change much because that was the only information provided. Anything else—like whether they were injured, where they were, how high their Terror Points were—was not available. Even if one had their leg sawed off and was bleeding out inside a locker, the other would not know. The one who was not haunted would be filling up their mind with the worst possible scenario and would eventually make a mistake due to the influence of these thoughts.
Therefore… this kind of setting was meant to be interruptive. If anything, a setting where they would not be able to communicate at all would be much nicer.
…
Since the phone could not be placed inside the inventory and the pockets of the pants that he wore were too shallow to contain anything, Feng Bujue had no choice but to carry the phone in his hand. Even though he no idea whether it would be useful or not, Feng Bujue took out the wrench and held it in his other hand as he slowly approached the well. His steps were slow and deliberate. If he triggered an event, he would be able to react at first notice.
The air around him suddenly cooled down, and when Feng Bujue was only three meters away from the well, a plea that sounded more like a mumble came intermittently from the well. “Save… Save… Me…”
After that, the scene before Feng Bujue’s eyes immediately changed. In one second, the night turned into dusk, and around him appeared a thin young man. He was wearing a school uniform and spectacles. He was surrounded by three larger boys who looked like school bullies. They were talking over him and would occasionally knock the boy’s head or bump roughly into him.
Is this a replay of the death scene? Feng Bujue walked forward and reached out. As he expected, his arms were like air and cut through the people’s bodies easily. He was unable to touch them. Therefore, he continued to observe with patience, to see what would happen next.
Actually, it was nothing special, a normal mugging. However, the boy said that he had already given them everything. The bullies were naturally not satisfied. One of them started the assault by landing a punch on the boy’s stomach. After he crumbled to the ground, punches and kicks rained down on him.
The assault continued for a while, and the three seemed to come up with some new idea. They dragged the boy to the well, and one of them held the back of the boy’s shirt and dangled his upper body over the mouth of the well. The other two grabbed a leg each, hoisting him up to the same height as the edge of the wall.
The boy was understandably afraid, and he struggled to get loose, yelling for them to stop, but the three ignored him. All they did was laugh louder and louder. This joy continued for a minute before tragedy struck. It was unclear who slipped, but the boy fell into the well, and his voice disappeared into the darkness.
The three finally got afraid, and they started to convince themselves of their innocence. “I… I didn’t release my grip… It was his… his mistake for wiggling about… He did this to himself… Right… Right?”
“Ah… Yes… Yes, of course! It was a mere accident…”
Just like that, they abandoned the boy and left, without going to call for help. The next second, the illusion disappeared. The night was still cold, and Feng Bujue was still three meters away from the well. He looked at the phone again, and while that flashback was playing, time seemed to have stopped.
“Save me…” The voice began again. Feng Bujue took a deep breath and leaned closer to the mouth of the well.
…
At the same time, inside the main building, Passing Rain found a cut newspaper article inside an office table in the teacher’s lounge. The headline was very eye-catching, and someone had used pen to circle some of the lines to emphasize the key words. One of them was the name of the school—Ye Jie Elite Academy. The main content of the article was about an old well at the school.
In 1994, a student named Satoshi Tanaka had been found dead inside the old well in Ye Jie Elite Academy. At the time, the police had declared this incident an accident, but there was a rumor going around the school that Tanaka had decided to commit suicide due to extreme bullying.
One week later, the three students who used to gang up on Tanaka left home on the same night, and they were later all declared missing. In the end, their bodies were found inside the well. This time, the police made this a high-profile case, but since they could not find any suspects, much less a murderer, the case had to be abandoned.
The rumor that Tanaka’s soul had returned for revenge soon spread throughout the school.
In 1995, another male student, Sakagami Junichi, fell into the well and died. During his autopsy, other than the wounds from the fall, there were many strange bite marks on his body, and they were identified to have come from four different individuals.
Junichi was a famed bully at his school. According to his friend’s testimony, they were hanging around the school compound, smoking cigarettes, when Junichi heard someone calling for help. None of his friends heard it, and they thought that Junichi was joking, so they went home after that.
During winter of the same year, two of the local gang members were found dead in the well, and similarly strange bite marks were found on their bodies. The fingers of both the victims were bit off their hands, and the fingers were never found.
In 1996, the school decided to use cement to seal off the well, and then two years passed without any accidents.
In 1998, the cement seal of the well was cracked for some unknown reason. In the summer of the same year, three students at the school disappeared one after another. The tenth day after the disappearance of the first student, a heavy, disgusting stench drifted out from the crack of the well. The school had no choice but to reopen the well, and they found three bodies inside the well. The bodies were damaged to varying degrees. Other than the heads that were preserved, the rest of the bodies were seriously compromised.
The rumor started to make the rounds again among the student body. “If you hear cries for help coming from inside the well, do not attempt to look into the well, or you’ll be drag down into it.”